Pastrana Signs Law Widening Military’s Role

President Andres Pastrana has signed a sweeping new security law that human rights groups fear will open the door to torture, arbitrary detentions and increased military control in Colombia.

The measure, passed under intense pressure from hard-line elements within the nation’s Congress, gives the military broad powers to combat leftist insurgents. It was signed Monday, but Pastrana’s office announced the action Thursday.

The law comes on top of other recent developments, including the resignations under pressure of several top prosecutors, that have created worry about a perceived erosion in Colombia’s commitment to human rights.

“This is a step backward, not forward,” said Robin Kirk, who tracks Colombia for the New York-based group Human Rights Watch. “It feeds into a pattern of less and less focus on human rights and more and more on the old and failed model of military solutions.”

Under the law, which legislators passed in June, Pastrana can give supreme authority to the military in areas deemed to be conflict zones, superseding the powers of governors and mayors. The law weakens the ability of civilian prosecutors to investigate human rights abuses committed by the military and imposes a two-month deadline on completing such probes.

But the most worrisome aspect for human rights groups is the military’s newfound ability to detain and question suspects for an undetermined amount of time.

In May, two U.S. lawmakers took the unusual step of objecting to another country’s legislation, protesting in a letter that the measure might have a “bilateral impact” if passed.

The U.S. Congress is debating next year’s aid package for the Andean region, which includes as much as $500 million for this nation to continue Plan Colombia, a $1.3-billion, two-year, U.S.-backed effort to reduce cocaine production in the region by half.

“The [security] legislation would turn back the clock on the significant progress that Colombia--to its great credit--has made in strengthening human rights safeguards,” says the letter signed by Reps. William D. Delahunt (D-Mass.) and Sam Farr (D-Carmel). “In the process, it could unnecessarily complicate ongoing reviews in Washington of proposals for renewed aid to Colombia.”

The law also reflects growing frustration with the peace process. More than two years of negotiations with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the country’s largest rebel group, have produced few results.

Negotiations with the National Liberation Army, the second-largest guerrilla force, collapsed last week amid accusations by the rebels that Pastrana’s government wasn’t doing enough to combat right-wing paramilitary groups that operate in the rebels’ territory.

Colombian military leaders have long argued that they need a stronger hand to deal with the country’s violent internal conflict, saying civilian restrictions hamper military operations.

For instance, the judiciary is notoriously corrupt and inefficient, which contributes to a conviction rate of less than 5% in murder cases. Military officials argue that they need quicker judicial results to prosecute those responsible for terrorism.

Pastrana’s office pointed out a number of safeguards included in the measure, such as tighter control of private security companies and a requirement to inform civilian officials of military detentions.

In a speech Thursday before Colombia’s largest business group, Pastrana made no mention of the law but stressed that the government must prove its strength during a peace process in which both sides are entwined in a nearly 4-decade-old war.

The law comes just weeks after a shake-up in the attorney general’s office over the arrest and detention of a former top military official on charges of cooperating with the country’s right-wing paramilitary groups.

The detention of retired Gen. Rito Alejo del Rio, the first time civilian authorities had arrested such a high-ranking official, came between administrations in the attorney general’s office.

The new attorney general, Luis Camilo Osorio, asked for the resignation of three prosecutors involved in human rights cases, saying he had not been consulted on an order to keep Del Rio under house arrest pending trial. The former general was released Aug. 5.